Y.M.C.A. CANTEENS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 137, 12 May 1941, Page 10

Y.M.C.A. CANTEENS

SERVICE ON MANOEUVRES. In connection with the military manoeuvres which have been tubing place in (lie Wellington Province, the National Council of the Y.M.C.A. were entrusted with the big task of providing the canteen service. Mr i’altridge, of the Waiouru Y.M.C.A. hut, is in charge of the field work arid he is assisted' Liv several field secretaries. The services consist of complete canteens at the base camps of each of the military units participating and the provision of portable canteen service on the road. As an indication of the amount of work entailed at Palmerston North alone temporary canteens had to be set up and equipped at live separate camps and huge quantities of stores distributed to each daily. Vans bearing the sign “New Zealand Y.M.C.A.” could be seen hurrying along local roads at all hours of the day and night. Few appreciate the long hours worked by these field secretaries; under normal conditions at permanent camp huts they rarely finish before eleven or twelve at night, and this for seven days in the week. During manoeuvres they sleep when and where they can, and although officially they are accommodated and mess in the camp officers’ quarters, it frequently means snatching a few hours’ sleep in a van or some other shelter and getting a meal when times permits. During the temporary stay of the units in the Palmerston North district, thousands of bottles of cordials, thousands of cigarettes and packets of chocolate, etc., were consumed. Local facilities were fully taxed to producing the vast' quantities of cakes and nips required daily. The big task of ordering and distributing these stores was undertaken bv Mr Paldtridge personally, and on the night before the units moved oIT on their manoeuvres all stores had to be collected at a "central depot and re-sorted before being packed in the various trucks for use on the road, this job being finished abonl 3 a m.. ready to leavo with the convoys leaving at 6 a.m. The Palmerston Norlh Y.M.C.A. co-op-erated in the work in this centre and in eaeli of the five ramps relays of ladies bandied tbe actual canteen work. At the Showgrounds, ITobowhifti and Awrnuni the Women’s War Service Auxiliary (canteen branch! handled the work: at the Sportsground (lie Y.M.C.A. Indies’ nuxili arv with the assistance of a number of friends operated; Mrs S. J. Parkes bad charge at A'hburst, and a large number of Ashhurst Indies carried out du* : os under very trying conditions: Mr Parkes also kindlv ofifered bis services. At IJokowhitu. conditions were unpleasant ti' there was no building available and work bad to be carried on in two small tents. With the heavy rain and hundreds of feet tramping in and out. the ground inside the tents soon became a sea of mud, but the ladies continued (bo good work right up to the lime the camp was abandoned, and assisted in the removal of many of the stores. All the Indies who assisted at these canteens worked very hard, though the weather conditions at all camps were far from pleasant